August 10th, 2012 at 11:53 am 
by Ron Cervenka For years I have always gotten a huge laugh out of managers, players and coaches who adamantly deny that they scoreboard watch during the stretch run. So ridiculous are their denials that I almost expect their noses to grow when they say this. I mean really, there isn’t a fan anywhere who actually buys their line of bovine manure (as Vin Scully recently said), yet we still hear it every year… and probably always will.
How can anyone on any team in pennant race not scoreboard watch? It’s impossible not to – especially when every MLB ballpark in the country (and Canada) has a huge out-of-town scoreboard right there in front of them; yet they expect us to believe that they don’t take a peek at it every now and then? Give me a break.
Even 100-year-old Fenway Park, the oldest ballpark in the MLB, has an out of town scoreboard (Photo credit – Andrew Whitacre)
During Wednesday night’s DodgerTalk post-game radio show, co-host and former MLB manager Kevin Kennedy said it best:
“Of course everybody scoreboard watches. When you’re in a pennant race and you see that your competition is winning or already won, you tell yourself ‘Ok, we need to get going and kick it up a notch.’ The only teams that don’t scoreboard watch are the ones that are out of contention.”
Thank you, Kevin, for being honest about something that is so silly to lie about.
After Monday night’s painful loss to the lowly Colorado Rockies, Dodger manager Don Mattingly was asked point blank if he watches the scoreboard and his answer may surprise you:
“I think you always watch it. I watch it from the very beginning of the year. To be honest with you, I watch it all the time.”
Thank you, Don, for being honest about something that is so silly to lie about.
Don Mattingly is the first MLB manager that I know of who readily admits that he is a scoreboard watcher and always has been – and it didn’t hurt him one bit to say so. (Photo credit – Joe Murphy)
Yet for reasons known only to himself, Mattingly’s predecessor Joe Torre had an extremely difficult time being honest about scoreboard watching. Rarely would a night go by during the stretch run when he wasn’t asked about watching the scoreboard and his answer was usually the same – that he didn’t care what the other teams were doing and only cared about what his team was doing; that he had no control over the other teams and could only control what he could control.
Of course you can’t control what other teams do and can only control what you can control, everybody knows that; but please quit insulting our intelligence by claiming that you don’t scoreboard watch when we know darn well that everybody scoreboard watches – that’s why they put out-of-town scoreboards in ballparks… to look at.
Go ahead… set yourself free – look squarely at that out-of-town scoreboard. Nobody will criticize you or think less of you for doing it. Go ahead – see how the Giants and D-backs are doing. Give an “alright!” when they lose or a ‘we need to get going and kick it up a notch’ when they win. It’s ok to do. It’s perfectly acceptable… even normal to scoreboard watch. It is not a crime, it is not a sin, but for Heaven’s sake… quit lying about it.
(Author’s note: Yes, this article was written entirely with tongue in cheek).
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No question about it. How do they not watch the scoreboard? There is considerable free time during a game – between pitches, innings, visits to the mound, pitching changes, etc. There is no way in the heat of battle or the dog days of August players, coaches and managers do not check the scoreboard. They just gotta know what is happening. Good for Don. He is straight forward on most things. I would say all, if it was not for some personnel issues we have with some players.
I am a notorious scoreboard watcher. I check the out of town scores, especially our rivals within the division, check the Pirate score to see if James McDonald is doing well, the Mariner score to see if Trayvon Robinson is playing, Phillies to see if Josh Lindblom is pitching, etc. That is a different reason to check the scores (box scores)and eventually wears off. I also check the Dodger minor league scores(Box scores) regularly during the evening.
It is scary how much you and I are similar, Bluenose, although it probably has more to do with our passion for the Dodgers and love of the game than our personalities.
Between innings while in the LFP I always check the scores via “MLB At Bat 12” on my Droid (the out-of-town scoreboard always seems to be on the AL when I look at it and it is always a little behind MLB At Bat 12). I’ll also sometimes check the Quakes score, as their games usually coincide with the Dodger games; and of course I always check the TBLA forum and blog site for new posts or comments or to see if anyone is having any issues that I need to address. I check everything else out when I get home because by the time I’m finished with all of this, the inning is starting and I’d sure hate to miss a home run ball because I was screwing around with my Smartphone – that would be too smart, huh?
The more I get to know Mattingly, the more I like him. He is, as you say, straight forward on most things and is always very sincere in his answers.
I agree, it’s impossible to think that another person is not concerned with how the the team that is behind or in front of them is doing or has done, especially during the latter part of the season when your team is still contending.
I feel the pressure when the other team is winning or has already won and I have to admit I feel some sort of a relaxation when the other team has lost.
Some people think I feel like “We don’t HAVE TO win”, but that’s not true. I feel relaxed knowing that my team has an opportunity to gain ground, if they win.
If my team loses and we are the leading team, I feel like nothing venture nothing gained nor LOST.
Of course I know if we are the trailing team, we lost a day even if the games behind column remains the same.
How anyone doesn’t go through this day in and day out during the season is beyond me.